• AllMyVinyl #113
• Band: Adam Wakeman
• Album Title: A Handful of Memories
• Release Date: 12 Nov 2021
• Date purchased: N/A
• Location purchased: From record label
• Color of vinyl: black
• Number of discs: 1
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

This is a very different album than most of the ones in my collection.  Here’s a little background.

Adam Wakeman is someone I’ve known for awhile now. He was the keyboard player in Black Sabbath going back to 2004, taking over from Geoff Nicholls.  He also has played with Ozzy solo for some time, and he’s been guesting and appearing in  ton of other bands.  Then there’s the now defunct (I believe) Snakecharmer band he plays keys for.  I’m telling you if you don’t know Snakecharmer, seek it out. They’re awesome.  Especially the first album which is off the charts awesome.  If I had it on vinyl, I’d gush about it, but I don’t.  Anyway, I digress…

I met Adam backstage at the Black Sabbath 13 tour in Austin TX – and by that time I had fully digested the first Snakecharmer album, so I was eager to meet him.  I mean he was playing in Black Sabbath, but I wanted to talk to him about Snakecharmer, so we had a nice chat about that stuff.  We continued to converse through email, and struck up a friendship.  He has made sure I’ve been hooked up with releases he’s on, and that includes this album.  I got contacted by someone at Blacklake Records (the label that put this album out), and they sent me a copy – which is what I’m playing today.

The cover art always amused me – it’s a piano being drug through an airport.  Obviously mocked up, but still, the imagery gave me a chuckle just the same.  The album itself is a very personal one.  That’s because the entire album is just Adam and a piano.  There’s no lyrics, there’s no other band, it’s a true honest to God solo album, Adam’s the only one on the album.   On the back sleeve, Adam says this…

“This album is the result of an appreciation upon reflection of my past experiences, trips with my family, my touring families and friends in some places that hold special memories for me.”

That’s on the outside.  If you buy the album, there’s a small booklet in there with picture that I have to assume are ones Adam took, and each song gets a story about what it means to him.  I won’t write them down as they’re good personal stories – he talks about trips to South America with his wife, tours with Black Sabbath, some band rehearsals in LA, the beauty of Iceland, things of that nature.  None of them are super long, but none of them are one line either.  If you read the paragraph while listening to the music, it’s a great appreciation as you imagine what was going through Adam’s head at the time. You can for sure listen to the entire album on some digital service, but you’ll miss Adam’s stories which I think are essential to the full experience of this album.

I’m not going to break down the songs here, as it’s near impossible – 100% of them are just Adam and the piano, so there’s no bass line to talk about, and no vocal delivery, etc.  It’s actually QUITE soothing, and as I said with the enhancement of Adam’s stories on the booklet, it makes for a very pleasing experience.

Please do not misunderstand the length of this review with me not liking it – I LOVED this.  If you’re in the mood for some metal, or straight on rock, this is not the album for you.  But if you’re looking for a piece of music that you can lose yourself into, this will do the job nicely.  It’s some awesome piano playing by Adam, and as I said before, with the knowledge of the stories coupled with the music, it’s an experience I’m super glad I had.

While I fully admit I got this for free from the record label as a review copy, I would have GLADLY paid full price for it. and felt I got my money’s worth.  This album evoked a profound emotional response in me that some I’ve written far more extensively about in this series have not.

This album is perfectly named – “A Handful of Memories”. I really hope these aren’t the last memories Adam shares with us.